La tesi estudia els conflictes entre Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya i Unió Democràtica de Catalunya. Des de la teoria del conflicte i utilitzant la metodologia de l'anàlisi de contingut, s'hi analitzen els articles de quatre diaris publicats a Barcelona (La Vanguardia, El Periódico, El País i Avui) durant tres moments d'especial confrontació entre CDC i UDC (1996-97, 2001 i 2006). La investigació se centra sobre les característiques del conflicte publicat i el paper dels diaris en relació amb el conflicte mateix i els seus dos actors principals. Les conclusions indiquen que es tracta d'un conflicte estructural, per quotes de poder a CiU, la tensió del qual és proporcional a la progressió en la preparació i execució de la successió de Jordi Pujol. La premsa hi intervé decisivament en el seu desenvolupament, com a tercer involucrat, però no com a part principal. La Vanguardia segueix l'interès d'UDC, enfoca el conflicte des d'UDC i és pro UDC. El Periódico se situa a l'oposició política, enfoca el conflicte des de CDC i s'hi posiciona contra UDC. El País adopta una oposició ideològica, des de fora i contra CDC. L'Avui hi interpreta l'interès de CiU, des de dins i a favor de CDC. / La tesis estudia los conflictos entre Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya y Unió Democràtica de Catalunya. Desde la teoría del conflicto y utilizando la metología del análisis de contenido, se analizan los artículos de cuatro diarios publicados en Barcelona (La Vanguardia, El Periódico, El País i Avui) durante tres momentos de especial confrontación entre CDC y UDC (1996-97, 2001 i 2006). La investigación se centra en las características del conflicto publicado y el papel de los diarios en relación con el conflicto mismo y sus dos actores principales. Las conclusiones indican que se trata de un conflicto estructural, por cuotas de poder en CiU, cuya tensión es proporcional a la progresión en la preparación y ejecución de la sucesión de Jordi Pujol. La prensa interviene decisivamente en su desarrollo, como tercero involucrado, pero no parte principal. La Vanguardia sigue el interés de UDC, enfoca el conflicte desde UDC y es pro UDC. El Periódico se sitúa en la oposición política, enfoca el conflicto desde CDC y se posiciona contra UDC. El País adopta una oposición ideológica, desde fuera y contra CDC. L'Avui interpreta el interés de CiU, desde dentro y a favor de CDC. / The thesis studies the conflicts between CDC and UDC as portrayed by some Barcelona newspapers. From the startpoint of the conflict theory and using the methodology of content analysis, articles published by four dailies (La Vanguardia, El Periódico, El País i Avui) during three moments of particular tension between CDC and UDC (1996-97, 2001 i 2006) are analysed. The research is focused on the characteristics of the conflict, as it was published, and on the role that the newspapers had relating to the development of the conflict itself and to its two protagonists. The conclusions from the study indicate that it is a structural conflict, motivated by a power struggle within CiU. The tension increases as the succession to Jordi Pujol's leadership approaches and it is implemented. The press, as a third party, albeit with a secundary role, has a decisive intervention in the conflict development. La Vanguardia follows the interests of UDC, looks at the conflict from UDC's viewpoint and it is pro-UDC. El Periódico adopts a political opposition, viewing the conflict from the stadtpoint of CDC and against UDC. El País adopts an ideological opposition looking at the conflict from the outside and against CDC. Avui follows the interests of CiU, acting from within and favouring CDC.

The Teaching and learning computer-programming process as been the target of scientific research since the early days of computing. Although several strategies have been and are still being tested, its application in computer-based courses has been difficult, since it requires some commitment from educators to search, study and evaluate them. Although not looking for a miraculous cure for all problems in this area (reported in the literature), and believing in the pedagogical potential of the socio-cognitive conflict theory, it has been decided to develop a teaching method of programming based on Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives to be applied using the pair-programming technique. This method is being used to produce a book of Algorithms and Programming Techniques intending to be acknowledged by the Academy. Experiments with such method has been carried out at a private University and there has been a significant increase of motivation by the students that underwent the experiments. / O ensino-aprendizagem de programação de computadores tem sido alvo de investigações cientificas desde os primórdios da computação. Embora diversas estratégias foram e ainda têm sido experimentadas, sua aplicação em cursos de computação e afins se mostra difícil, uma vez que exige algum empenho de educadores em buscá-las, estudá-las e avaliá-las. Não procurando a cura milagrosa para todos os problemas nessa área (relatados na literatura), e acreditando no potencial pedagógico da teoria do conflito sócio-cognitivo, decidiu-se construir um método de ensino de programação baseado na taxionomia de objetivos educacionais de Bloom a ser aplicado através da técnica de Programação em Duplas. O método está sendo utilizado na produção de um livro de Algoritmos e Técnicas de Programação no intuito de difundi-lo na Academia. Foram realizados experimentos com o método em uma Universidade da iniciativa privada e constatou-se um expressivo aumento de motivação dos aprendizes que a ele foram submetidos. / Doutor em Ciências

C-essay in Political Science by Sunniva Lagnestål Melhuus, Spring 2013, Political Science III at Karlstad University, Supervisor: Hans Lödén, “Perceptions of a Conflict – A qualitative analysis of Indian and Pakistani mass media” In this essay the aim is to study the current situation and recent development of an international conflict from a social constructivist perspective, with an emphasis on the conflicting parties’ mutual perceptions. The long conflict between India and Pakistan is here chosen as an example. According to a social constructivist perspective the dynamics on the international arena depend on shared ideas and expectations. Therefore the question that is sought to be answered here is how India and Pakistan perceive each other, currently and over a recent time period. In this essay the focus lies on the images articulated in the countries’ mass media. Circa 500 news articles were selected from Indian and Pakistani newspapers and analysed using a social psychology conflict model. Drawing from previous research I argue that the images displayed in mass media affect the development of the conflict. The result of this study is that although the combined development in each country remains constant, both countries display negative developments in some aspects and the current situation is not hopeful in either country. By analysing the mutual perceptions of the conflicting parties it seems that the conflict will not de-escalate in the near future and both countries continue to perceive the other hostilely.

The master's thesis International impact of Catalonia independence efforts aims to analyze what is the international impact caused by Catalonia's efforts to separate from Spain. It does so by establishing theoretical framework of Conflict theory and internationalized conflicts. Within this framework, the Catalonia's case is examined. The thesis provides wide and extensive background on Catalan independence in order to understand how independence efforts in Catalonia emerged and evolved. The thesis also explains the means which are used by Catalan representatives in order to promote the independence internationally. Brief comparative examples of other regions within Europe are provided (with one notable mention outside of European continent) which seek for independence, as some of the features are common for all of them. Later on, the thesis features analytical part in which international impacts of Catalonia's strive for independence are examined. Those include e.g. effects on the European Union, other separatist regions, and more. Important explanation is offered about possible economic consequences with the usage of quantitative data. The thesis in its final stage applies conflict theory on Catalonia's case. It also uses all the before explained historical background. It concludes with assessment...

Questa ricerca definisce il concetto di riduzione del rischio di conflitto e fornisce una strategia di gestione del rischio di conflitto. Lo scopo è quello di contribuire alla Peace Research e ai Conflict studies costruendo un approccio di prevenzione basato sul rischio. La metodologia utilizzata in questo studio è interdisciplinare. Questo aspetto ha permesso di convalidare il quadro analitico sviluppato attraverso l'analisi di un caso studio che ha incluso un lavoro sul campo con l'impiego di strumenti antropologici. Il caso libanese è stato scelto per la recente storia conflittuale e le odierne condizioni in cui versa il paese, sottoposto a innumerevoli pressioni socioeconomiche. Infatti, la crisi siriana e i massicci flussi di rifugiati hanno avuto un impatto significativo sul Libano, destabilizzando ulteriormente un paese già fragile e scatenando diverse ondate di violenza, la cui manifestazione ha avuto e ha luogo a livello micro e macro in diverse forme. La storia conflittuale e le esperienze di migrazione, le pressioni economiche e sociali e i pregiudizi derivanti dall’errata percezione reciproca tra libanesi e siriani costituiscono la base da una parte per un alto rischio di micro-conflitti, e dall’altra, a livello macro, un possibile input per una destabilizzazione socioeconomica che sfoci in una contrapposizione conflittuale che tenga conto delle dinamiche irrisolte della società libanese. Considerando l'obiettivo pratico di questo lavoro, che si concentra sull’elaborazione di una strategia di gestione dei rischi di conflitto, sarà fornita un'analisi programmatica, tenendo conto delle buone pratiche implementate da Organizzazioni Internazionali e ONG. / This research aims at defining the concept of Conflict Risk Reduction and providing a Conflict Risk Management Strategy. The purpose is to contribute to the Peace research and Conflict Studies field by offering a conflict risk-based prevention approach. The methodology used in this study is of interdisciplinary nature. This, in subsequence allowed me to apply the case study approach to validate the analytical created framework and to perform prolonged fieldwork employing anthropological tools. The Lebanese case represents a rich field for these research purposes due to its recent conflict history that crucially marked the country and its consequences that are still fathomable today in addition to the current pressure circumstances. Indeed, the Syrian crisis and the massive refugee flows have a significant impact on Lebanon leading to several waves of violence. The country’s history of conflict and migration, the economic and social grievances and the misperception among Lebanese and Syrian refugees constitute the base for a high risk of micro conflicts in Lebanon. Considering the practical aim of this work which focuses on Conflict Risk Disaster Management strategy, a programmatic analysis will be provided, taking into account the best practices implemented by International Organisations and NGOs.

Bakgrund. Individer i dagens samhälle behöver finna en balans mellan sina olika roller inom arbetslivet och privatlivet. Denna balans konkurrerar om individens tid och resurser, vilket kan vara krävande för en individ att lyckas balansera mellan. Forskningen visar att en individs balans mellan sina olika roller tenderar att samverka med individens motivation på arbetsplatsen. Syftet med studien är därmed att undersöka sambandet mellan work-life balance och medarbetarnas upplevda motivation i arbetet. Material och metod. Studien består av en kvantitativ metod, där ett bekvämlighetsurval har använts. En enkät användes för datainsamlingen, där 296 respondenter deltog. De instrument som har använts för att undersöka sambandet är WEIMS-instrumentet och WLB-scale. För att kontrollera att sambandet mellan våra huvudvariabler kvarstod mot kontrollvariablerna, har en multipel regressionsanalys använts. I denna analys genomfördes bootstrapping med 5000 iterationer. Resultat. Studien fann ett positivt samband mellan work-life balance och motivation (r = .14, p < .001), när sambandet kontrollerades för våra signifikanta kontrollvariabler: stress, hälsotillstånd och sömn. Slutsats. Work-life balance och medarbetarnas upplevda motivation är två faktorer som samspelar med varandra. Vidare har work-life balance och motivation också visat sig samverka med individens vilja till att lämna arbetsplatsen. / Background. Individuals in today's society need to find a balance between their various roles in the workplace and personal life. This balance competes for an individual's time and resources, which can be demanding for them to successfully juggle. Research shows that an individual's balance between their various roles tends to interact with their motivation at work. The purpose of this study is thus to examine the relationship between work-life balance and employees' perceived motivation in the workplace. Materials and Methods. The study employs a quantitative method, using convenience sampling. A questionnaire was used for data collection, with 296 respondents participating. The instruments used to investigate the relationship are the WEIMS instrument and the WLB-scale. To control for the persistence of the relationship between our main variables against the control variables, a multiple regression analysis was employed. In this analysis, bootstrapping was performed with 5000 iterations. Results. The study found a positive correlation between work-life balance and motivation (r = .14, p < .001) when the relationship was controlled for our significant control variables: stress, health condition, and sleep. Conclusion. Work-life balance and employees' perceived motivation are two factors that interact with each other. Furthermore, work-life balance and motivation have also been found to interact with an individual's intention to leave the workplace

The following argument offers a sharper micro-foundational lens for studying human political and social behavior by demonstrating how political science might better incorporate the theory of evolution into its behavioral models, and by showing that differential conflict occasionally prevails over the materialist conflicts depicted in much of the modern social science literature. I take evolutionary psychology's understanding of manifest behavior as a point of departure, and then analyze the manifest behavior in terms of judgments, which are binary measurements at a particular point of reference; in other words, a given manifest behavior either did or did not occur at a particular point in time. I then show that judgments can 1) transmit from one individual to the next, 2) vary according to predictable adaptive processes, and 3) are either extinguished or flourish dependent upon the process of natural selection; judgments, therefore, meet the three requirements of evolutionary theory. Judgments, rather than genes, better describe the process of human political and social evolution, which becomes especially clear when one assesses the consequences of what I term "differential" outcomes in judgments. / text

The study theorizes that a nation-state can manifest a condition similar to that of personality commonly associated with humans. Through the identification of consistent behaviors, a personality like condition is recognizable, and the underlining motivations dictate national policy independent of any current social/political influence. The research examines Russia during two historical periods examining the conflict events and social/political transitions of the period, to identify common behavioral characteristics, which indicate the existence of any independent personality like trait. The study focuses on two historical periods: the Monarch Period of Peter I (The Great), and the Post-Soviet Union period of Vladimir Putin, periods selected as historical eras in which Russia experienced major political or social transition. Using a comparative qualitative historical analysis with a behaviorist focus, the research examines these periods by profiling each era’s elements of society and the events of domestic and international conflict that Russia experienced, while evaluating the actions taken in response to each. The research discovers that Russia exhibits personality like traits, similar to those associated with humans and are likewise developed from experience, and once imbedded into Russian psychology, regardless of the current social/political elements or situational conditions, remain prime motivators to Russian behavior. The personality like characteristic identified was similar to inferiority, which leads to behavior characteristics comparable to narcissism, as the definition of narcissism relates to the need for admiration and or acceptance. The study identified the origins of the inferiority like complex and the narcissistic like behavior pattern exhibited by Russia in both periods.

This essay examines Jesus' conflict counseling in the Gospel of Luke, by conducting a literary analysis of Luke 9:46-48, 12:13-21 and 22:24-30, which are stories of conflicts where Jesus himself is not involved. The texts have been analyzed in their historical context and are illuminated by heuristic use of contemporary conflict theory and moral psychology. Through this reading, a pattern emerges: Jesus' main method of dealing with conflicts is to correct the attitudes of those involved in conflict.

This paper sets out to evaluate the influence of Russia’s increasing levels of hegemonic masculinity upon the erosion of the nuclear taboo in relation to increased threatening rhetoric, military preparedness, targeting of nuclear facilities, and withdrawal from existing arms control legislation which indicates potential first-use employment of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Utilizing a dual research methodology of comparative process tracing and critical discourse analysis, gender theory is applied to assess various critical junctures and political focal points that contributed to a dual-partite path dependency of increasing hegemonic masculinity, coupled with the feminized securitization of Ukraine, and retaliatory masculinity as performed via state-sponsored employment of conflict-related sexual violence and nuclear posturing against Ukraine. The alternative explanation of “Escalate to De-escalate” is critically investigated; however, the empirical analysis provided by this paper suggests that the lack of gender-sensitive evaluation within this explanation fails to adequately account for the effect of increasing domestic hegemonic masculinity within Russia. Increased perception of an existential threat against Russian masculinity was found to contribute to an increased dependency on nuclear weapons. Ultimately, this paper forwards a novel explanatory causal mechanism, providing one of the first analyses of the nuclear taboo in relation to a gender-sensitive lens.